'The Kerala of today is not the Kerala of yesterday.' 'What has seeped into this society is the feeling of hatred towards other castes and religions.'
Sukumaran Nair said he had noted Natesan's remarks and that a decision would be taken after a meeting scheduled for January 21.
The current situation in Kerala politics is perhaps best described as a case of the state's traditional two front politics now seeing a third front (the BJP) muscling in with the potential outcome being either a messy three front affair or a renewed endorsement of the two front pattern but with one of the old fronts compromised or quashed, observes Shyam G Menon.
An employee of the famed Koodalmanikyam temple in Kerala has resigned, citing personal reasons, following allegations of caste discrimination. Balu, a member of the Ezhava community, was recruited for 'kazhakam' duties, which involve preparing garlands and performing ceremonial chores. The resignation has sparked controversy, with the Devaswom Minister assuring support for Balu and criticizing the temple's 'tantries' for their stance. The temple has two 'Kazhakam' positions, one appointed by the 'tantries' and the other filled according to the Acts and Regulations.
The editorial, titled "Ahimsa Award for the Executioner?", criticized Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for praising the entrepreneurial growth of Kerala under the Left government. It argued that it was "suicidal" to weaken the party from within when the Congress was actively opposing the shortcomings of the LDF government. The editorial also criticized Tharoor's positive remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent US visit, calling it a mere gesture by two administrators to improve their image.
The Lok Sabha contest in Thiruvananthapuram is shaping up to be a significant battle involving key candidates like Shashi Tharoor, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and Panniyan Ravindran. This three-cornered fight highlights the political dynamics in Kerala's capital city, with each candidate bringing their own vision and promises for the region's development, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
Kerala's election discourse operates surreptitiously. Its explicit face focuses on important national and local issues. At the same time, it seeks to secure apt communal equations to ensure votes, notes Shyam G Menon.
The reasons are too private to be discussed at a round table, listed out during a seminar, or uncovered in an academic course. A proud but insomniac connoisseur murmuring in his sleep may do a better job of explaining the phenomenon than an expert on a podium. Sreehari Nair airs his thoughts.
On Easter, April 9, 10,000 BJP workers are being assigned to visit the houses of 100,000 Christian families. Plans are afoot to visit the homes of Muslims on Eid.
Children sitting together, and hugging each other is not desirable in India and it is dangerous, Vellappally Natesan said.
She was capable of a level of human compassion that is rare today among politicians, recalls Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who knew the Communist legend K R Gowri, who passed into the ages on May 11, from his childhood.
'Otherwise, the minorities would not have acknowledged his leadership quality. I am happy the BJP is working towards achieving a secular image,' Vellappally Natesan, the OBC leader in Kerala who has created a controversy by supporting Narendra Modi, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
Almost a century before the current Sabarimala movement -- to facililate the entry of women between the ages of 10 and 50 into the Kerala shrine -- there was the Vaikom temple movement, to throw open temples in Kerala to all castes, a movement led by among others a man whose 71st death anniversary we mark today. A fascinating excerpt from Rajmohan Gandhi's new book, Modern South India: A History From The 17th Century To Our Times.
'If we want a stable society, then all groups must feel that they have a seat at the table of power.'
Thushar is the son of Vellappally Natesan, who is the general secretary of the influential Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, which works for the welfare of Ezhava community, a backward caste with sizeable population in the state.
Religious sentiments are simmering God's own country Kerala. The Episcopal churches and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam of the backward Ezhava community in the state are crying foul, claiming that the new generation Pentecostal churches are poaching their believers.
'They thought he can separate the Muslim votes and win, but the Kerala mind is completely different.' 'It is a secular mind because Hindus, Christians and Muslims live together.' 'We don't like somebody coming from outside, contesting in our state, winning and going and avoiding us.'
'The appointment of 60 priests from the Dalit community is a historic moment.' 'Imagine this is happening in Kerala when Dalits are not even allowed to enter temples in some states even today.'
'Unlike in other states, minorities form a significant number in Kerala. They have money and political power. In such a society, the emergence of a new communal power is not a healthy thing.'
She said there were attempts to communalise the guru's teachings and this amounts to 'betraying' him.
'The BJP can kill two birds with one stone by wresting back control of the message; and the steps are fairly obvious. Once the media is neutral, there is a level playing field,' argues Rajeev Srinivasan.
Kerala CM wrote to EAM S Jaishankar, seeking his intervention in the matter.
Ever since the Sivagiri Mutt in Kerala invited Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the chief guest of the Sree Narayana Dharma Meemamsa Parishad, Kerala politics has taken a new direction.
'Slightly more than 50 per cent of all Keralites are Hindus. If we can unite as many as we can, we can create a huge difference in the political scene in Kerala.'
'This will be the first open university in Kerala and it is a great tribute to Gurudevan by the helmsman of the Communist movement in Kerala,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The saffron party will use Lord Ayyappa the same way it made use of Lord Ram in the north to take away the Nair vote and make electoral inroads in the state.
Legendary Marxist firebrand K R Gowri, one of the founding leaders of the Communist movement in Kerala and the lone woman member in the state's first cabinet, died at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.
The matter could have been resolved with little fuss except for what some devotees, and representatives of Hindu organisations, claim is inspired fishing in troubled waters by the "atheistic" Communist government now in power in Kerala
With Parliament rocked by constant disruptions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hit out at the Congress, accusing it of making a "mockery of democracy" and deciding to "destroy" the country as it cannot reconcile to the Lok Sabha poll defeat.
'The path of militant Hindutva that the BJP's national leadership chose as its main electoral plank literally dug the grave for the party in Kerala,' says M K Bhadrakumar.
Unlike the LDF and NDA nominees who are at ground zero and campaigning hard every day, the Congress candidate's campaign is undertaken in absentia, dependent on an army of local and imported from the rest of Kerala Congresswomen and men.
'If you want to really grow, it has to be geometric progression like it happened at the Centre or Haryana or Tripura, where you made a quantum jump.' 'This is possible in Kerala provided we present a better alternative with a great leadership, but the current leadership is busy fixing each other.'
'The first time a ban on women aged between 10 and 50 entering Sabarimala came was in 1991 and was by a high court judgment.' 'So, it is only a 27-year-old ban.' 'The high court can fix customs and the Supreme Court can overturn it.' 'I don't see this as an attack on religious freedom or the practice of a religion.'
Stoking yet another controversy, the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala on Friday described social reformer and Dalit icon Sree Narayana Guru, who belonged to the backward Ezhava caste, as the greatest "Hindu sanyasi" the state has ever seen.
'Kerala will witness a lot of fireworks in Wayanad and a kind of fight that it has not witnessed so far.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday visited the Sivagiri Mutt, a revered spiritual centre established in Varkala, Kerala by the renowned 20th century saint-social reformer Sree Narayana Guru, and paid respects at his samadhi.
Kerala CM Oommen Chandy said the decision to exclude him from the function of unveiling of former CM R Sankar's statue at Kollam by PM Modi was a "painful experience".
Home Minister Rajnath Singh said it was a 'needless' controversy and the decision on the invite was taken by Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, an organisation of Ezhava community which was organising the event.
Rampant corruption by Congress ministers must be counted as the single biggest factor to prompt the electorate to hand over a thumping mandate to the Communist parties, says M K Bhadrakumar.
In fresh escalation of political violence in poll-bound Kerala, a 28-year-old Youth Congress worker was hacked to death allegedly by Democratic Youth Federation of India workers at Evoor in Alapuzha on Tuesday even as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India - Marxist workers clashed in Thiruvananthapuram district leaving at least 30 injured.
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